For The Casual Spike

Points of Synergy – Alhammarret, High Arbiter

Hey there, everyone! Unmistakable back again with another Points of Synergy, the series to help you get more from your Command Zone! This week a decidedly unpopular selection from Magic Origins, Alhammarret, High Arbiter.

The Commander

One of our more recent additions to blue, Alhammarret is the difficult-to-spell ex-mentor of Jace Beleren. But, what’s he bring to the table?

1) Flying

First off, this is reasonably relevant. While a common ability to have, on such a large Commander this makes him a fairly relevant threat in the late game, when resources run thin.

2) As Alhammarret, High Arbiter enters the battlefield, each opponent reveals his or her hand. You choose the name of a nonland card revealed this way.

Your opponents can’t cast spells with the chosen name (as long as this creature is on the battlefield).

Here is the clincher of the Arbiter – he’s a flying Nevermore for a card in your opponent’s hand! While this lacks the flexibility of the actual card, it allows you knowledge of an opponent’s options, and can potentially disable their most feasible line of play! Note it isn’t an ETB trigger, so it can’t double up with Panharmonicon, but it also gets around Torpor Orb effects!

Synergy

We haven’t got much for him to go with, but he offers some interesting interactions, surprisingly!

Engulf the Shore – A fringe standard playable(?) and a favourite of Dr Jank, Engulf makes my suggestions list as it is 1) great in monoblue, opening up effective one-sided Evacuations for cheap, and 2) returns cards to your opponents’ hands, free for Alhammarret to swoop in and prevent the casting of!

Declaration of Naught – A fringe pick that is pretty damn great, the Declaration is great in his deck. Sure you could use it to keep a Commander off the table ad infinitum, but it can also allow you to double up on Alhammarret’s trigger, keeping a particularly troublesome player down even harder by locking two cards in their hand.

This week in Flavour Corner comes Alhammarret’s Archive. While the lifegain doubling is mostly fluff text in Alhammarret, something like Staff of the Mind Magus or Kraken’s Eye actually becomes pretty potent with this live! Much more interestingly is the double draw; the Archive turns Divination into Inspiration, allowing your draw spells to generate an obscene amount of value to just plow through your deck to continue your game plan, whatever that may be. Alhammarret doesn’t lend himself to anything in particular, so I guess Sphinx tribal?

That just about covers this kitty cat! What do you guys reckon? Something I missed? The best I could? Whatever it is, be sure to let me know on Facebook. As always guys I’ll see you next time! But for now, Unmistakable out.